>Actually, cashews are real nuts, not legumes.  They are
>considered non-paleo because the shell has a caustic coating that
>makes it difficult to extract the nut.  The theory is that this
>means that paleo people would not have been able to eat them.  In
>addition, I think cashews may be a New World food.  Some people
>exclude all New World foods from the paleodiet.

In India children burry cashew nuts and in the spring with the first rains
they sprout ,  they dig them out   and eat ithem  When i visited a natural
farm they showed me how to extract the fresh  nut from the  shell with a
knife without putting the toxic oil ( toxic to the skin too) on the fingers.
I did it and with care its is easely feasible but there you kneed a knife
,sprouted,  the shell is splitted.allready .and easely removed
the fruit that carry the nut is edible too.
the burning  oil is enclosed in little vesicules inside the wall of the
shell

i did spilled a drop on my skin it burns but not a big deal.
>jean-claude